Mijnstadion, Beringen Beringen-Mijn (formerly K Beeringen FC / K Beringen FC / K Beringen-Heusden-Zolder)
Belgium, province: Limburg10 VI 2009 / Belgium U19 - Switzerland U19 1-1 / U19 European Championship qualifier11 VII 2012 / K Lierse SK - Oud-Heverlee Leuven 1-1 / Pre-season friendly
Note 1: Beeringen FC, founded in 1925 (matricule 522), played on the pitch of what later became the Mijnstadion from around 1930 onwards. Plans to build a real stadium on this location date back to 1939, but were shelved after the outbreak of World War II in the western part of Europe in 1940. It was not until 1947 that the current main stand was inaugurated. Beeringen FC acquired the royal epithet in 1951. In 1972, the spelling of the club name was changed (Beringen instead of Beeringen) to be in conformity with modern Dutch orthography. The club had a successful spell in the 1950s to 1980s when they mostly competed in the top flight of Belgian league football. With the demise of the coalmining industry, K Beringen FC also went into a slow decline from the early 1980s onwards. Finally, in 2002, the club, playing in fourth division, concluded a merger with town rivals KVV Vigor Beringen, forming KVK Beringen. KVK Beringen have since played at Vigor's ground, Motbemden. Meanwhile, in nearby Heusden, K Heusden-Zolder were in the process of an impressive climb up the league ladder, even winning promotion to National League Div. 1 in 2003. As Heusden-Zolder's ground at Noordberm was no longer in conformity with the rules of top level football, the club played their matches at Genk's Fenixstadion in the 2003-2004 season. After a difficult year and relegation, the name was adapted to become K Beringen-Heusden-Zolder. In 2004-2005, the club were also relegated in terms of ground, as they moved to the first side pitch of Genk's stadium for the season. In the last year of their existence, first team football moved to Beringen. Finally, in 2006, K Beringen-Heusden-Zolder went bankrupt. Since, the Mijnstadion has not seen regular league football. In the years after 2006, the ground has remained in use irregularly by various Belgian national teams (e.g. the U19 who played their EC qualifier against Switzerland for a sell-out crowd in 2009, cp. photos below) as well as for club friendlies (e.g. the Lierse-Leuven encounter visited by me in 2012), mostly organised by local non-league club KVV Weerstand Koersel.
Note 2: below, a compilation of photos of various visits to this ground: picture 1 = non-matchday visit, May 2009 / pictures 4-7, 9-10 & 25-26 = match visit, June 2009 / pictures 2-3, 8, 11-24, 27-30 = match visit, July 2012.
